She was quiet as he guided her through the corridors and back to the guest quarters. Once he got her inside, he noticed her attention was instantly ensnared by the sight of the wormhole swirling brilliantly outside the large window. He led her closer to the scene and wrapped an arm around her.
“Have you ever seen a wormhole before, little girl?”
“Oh, lots of times,” she said. “But never one so beautiful as this.”
“Lots of times?” Suspicion crept into the corners of his consciousness. He peered down at her, lifting an eyebrow at her. “If you’re an orphan who has never left Earth until now, how is it you’ve seen other wormholes?”
Her eyes widened and her face paled. She pressed her lips together and then gave her head a small shake as the color slowly returned to her features. “Oh, well, I’ve seen pictures, of course,” she said, speaking faster than he’d ever heard her speak before. “I would sometimes go to the library and learn about other worlds, which is how I learned Phennulos is one of the few worlds that doesn’t use bots in the service industry. So, of course, I happened to glimpse pictures of wormholes while I was planning for my trip.” She rubbed the back of her neck and avoided making eye contact.
He suspected she was lying, but he couldn’t prove it. Instead, he said, “When we arrive on Khanndora, before you face one of our judges, in accordance with the Earth–Khanndora Accord, you will have to provide your full legal name so that Khanndoran authorities can alert the New American government of your presence on our world. You cannot lie about your real name, as it will be verified with New American records—photoandfingerprint recognition, to be precise. Tell me, when you provide your full legal name, little girl, will that be a problem for you?”
She gulped hard and continued avoiding his gaze, opting to focus her stare on the wormhole. “No-no pr-problem at a-all, Daddy Vilad.” Her voice quavered and her lower lip trembled. She turned her face to try to hide it, but Vilad wasn’t about to let her suffer alone.
Despite knowing she wasn’t being totally honest with him and his brothers, he still couldn’t leave her alone in this moment. Not while she was upset and worried for her future. He cursed himself for bringing up the photo recognition that would verify her identity, but he’d hoped mention of it would coax her into coming clean about whatever she was running from. He swept her up in his arms and carried her to the large plush chair in the corner of the room.
He sat down and cradled her against his chest, stroking her hair while the wormhole swirled by outside the window. “You need not fear anything, Kenna, so long as you have your mates to protect you. Though we haven’t yet mated with you, we are certain you are meant to be ours,” he spoke into her ear, using his gentlest, most reassuring tone. “We know you are holding back some truths from us. Perhaps you have even outright lied to us. But I want you to know that even if you are running from something on Earth, we will stand by you and continue to protect you from any evils. Even if you’ve done wrong and are wanted for a crime on your home planet, little one, myzoshinwill help you. Do you understand?”
She peered up at him with unshed tears in her pretty blue eyes. “I’m not even supposed to be here. This was supposed to be a ship headed for Phennulos,” she whispered, her bottom lip trembling as the tears started to fall, silently rolling down her cheeks. He gathered her tighter against his chest and rocked her in his embrace, vowing to hold her until her tears dried, this sweet little girl who would soon be theirs.
“Shh, little one. Everything will be all right. Daddy won’t let anything or anyone hurt you. All your daddies will protect you. Shh…”
Chapter Twelve
Makenna
Daddy Vilad had almost gotten the truth out of her.
Makenna sat on her bed, staring at the wormhole as she replayed her recent conversation with him. He definitely didn’t think she was telling the truth. Damn it. She supposed the rest of hiszoshindidn’t either. Particularly Daddy Torin, who had decided to grill her over dinner. And then there was Aras, whose eyes seemed to darken every time she told even the smallest fib.
What the fuck was she going to do? She hadn’t considered that she would be identified before she stood before a Khanndoran judge. In a matter of days, it would be common knowledge on Earthandon Khanndora that Makenna Vega, daughter of the renowned Collin Vega, had stowed away on an alien warship.
Maybe she should come clean with Daddy Torin and all the rest of them. She sighed and ran a hand over her pigtails. Then she glanced at the cock stand that still rested on her bedside table and her stomach did a little flip. Holy hell, they were actually planning to use those phalluses on her. To train her ass, no less. She scooted away from the stand and refocused on the view outside her window, fearing if she kept looking at the cock stand her thoughts would take a naughty turn and she’d be tempted to touch herself again. A phantom tingle raced across her still-sore bottom cheeks at the prospect of getting caught pleasuring herself and earning yet another spanking.
A warm glow built in her chest as she replayed all the tender and firm interactions she’d had with thezoshinso far. In their presence, she felt safe and even cherished.Tell them, the little voice inside her head whispered.Tell them who you are and what really happened.
Her stomach promptly flipped again. Would they punish her for the lies she’d told? She shifted on the bed, and the lingering soreness of her recently chastised bottom had her thinking twice about coming clean. She sighed in frustration, ran a hand over one of her pigtails, and flushed at the memory of how special she’d felt when Daddies Aras and Kameel had fixed her hair in this little girl fashion.
She glanced down at her cute dress. It was made of the softest material she’d ever encountered and was adorned with lace and ruffles. And the white panties…
She couldn’t resist pulling up her nightdress for a peek at her new ‘proper’ underwear. Being dressed by her daddies had been a remarkably humbling yet comforting experience. Her head had been buzzing with a rush of endorphins the entire time, even as she’d been unable to keep from flushing over her shame at knowing they thought her thongs were not proper for a little girl such as her to wear.
A little girl. Their little girl.Their mate.
She touched the soft white panties and a jolt of arousal took her breath away, causing her to flounce the material of her dress down over her undergarments and fold her hands in her lap, again trying to resist the urge to touch herself.
She had been so angry when Daddy Torin had taken her vibrator away and told her she wasn’t allowed to touch herself without permission. But now she’d calmed down and was starting to see thezoshin’s side of things. She’d already known Khanndoran males were dominant—much more than the typical human male—and she supposed if she mated with them there would be no shortage of pleasure coming her way. After all, there were six of them.
Her heart pounded at the thought of being claimed by them, of Daddy Torin taking her first, pumping his seed into her and making her see stars as she writhed beneath him. With heat surging to her face, she glanced at the cock stand again, which was intended to train her ass in order that she might mate with the twins and then the triplets, taking a cock in her tight ass during those particular mating sessions. How soon would they begin training her ass to accept a cock?
At some point in her musings, she had come to the conclusion that this was happening. She was in fact going to mate with thezoshin. Perhaps not today or tomorrow, but soon. Every part of her yearned to be taken by them, to be loved and cherished and protected by them.
There was also a glint of loneliness in their gazes that she’d caught sight of from time to time, and she wondered where it came from and longed to make it go away. She wasn’t the only one who needed companionship and healing.
She recalled the moment she’d sat on the ledge of her bedroom window, peering down at the Reestrovian rosebushes with a sense that her life was about to drastically change. Despite knowing this, she had jumped and sprinted across the island in order to stow away on an interstellar ship before the first morning light, which made her clandestine activities too risky. Of course, she’d had no idea at the time that she was about to find herself the prospective mate of six huge Khanndoran warriors. Or that she would end up either jailed or in the warriors’ custody for a year or two, punishment for stowing away on a Khanndoran military vessel.
She pushed away thoughts of jail. Surely Daddy Torin had been telling the truth when he’d promised to keep her out of jail. Her heart fluttered at the thought of him, dark and tall and strong, arguing with a judge on her behalf and claiming responsibility for her.
As she stared at the wormhole, she had a strong feeling she would never return to Earth. Panic raced through her for a moment, but soon her nerves dispersed as a deep calm settled over her. Earth held a lot of painful memories, and she had been facing the monumental problem of escaping the controlling thumb of her father. The prospect of never seeing him again didn’t make her particularly sad, for which she experienced a surge of guilt. Once upon a time, he hadn’t been so cruel to her. She told herself the stimulants and other drugs he abused, in combination with his grief over her mother’s untimely death and his growing obsession with building the Vega empire, had caused him to turn into a complete stranger compared to the man she remembered as a small child. But he hadn’t even comforted her in the aftermath of her mother’s passing, that little voice reminded her. He’d ignored her, holed up in his room for weeks, then emerged to throw himself into his work and treat anyone or anything that got in his way with utter contempt.